Hospitals discharging some patients without the care they need at home

‘It was just an absolute nightmare and so distressing for my mum – she just wanted to be in her own home, it was horrendous’

Williamina Allan and her daughter Norma ( )

A daughter has described the “absolute nightmare” experienced by her disabled mother after she was repeatedly discharged and readmitted to hospital without proper care plans being put in place.

Williamina Allan, aged 75, was sent home from hospital only to be readmitted hours later on three separate occasions. She contracted coronavirus during subsequent seven week stay in hospital in June.

Her family have also criticised Rotherham Hospital after she was found lying in a soiled bed and valuable items, including a ring from her late husband, were lost. Ms Allan died earlier this month.

Now new data from 10,000 NHS patients who were discharged from hospital during April and May this year - during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic - shows Ms Allan’s poor experience was not unique.

The CQC’s survey of patients found one in three patients diagnosed with Covid-19 felt they needed help from social care or community health services after leaving hospital, but did not get any.

In total 29 per cent of Covid patients said they did not get the care and support they needed after leaving hospital, this was 25 per cent for non-Covid patients.

One in five patients told the regulator they did not know what would happen next in their care after leaving hospital with the same number reporting they were unprepared to leave hospital.

In October, a report by Healthwatch England highlighted many patients were discharged from hospitals between March and August this year without proper assessments with vulnerable people sent home without medication, equipment or care plans in place.

A new national approach to discharging patients has been set up in the wake of coronavirus with patients meant to be discharged home for assessment to help free up hospital beds. But community services and social care departments are already over stretched meaning some patients are going without the care they need.

Williamina Allan’s daughter Norma Conway said her mother experienced “horrendous” disruption that left her distressed.

She was admitted to Rotherham Hospital in June with a urinary tract infection and discharged a week later but when she arrived home her care team felt she was too unwell and she was readmitted the next day.

She stayed in hospital for another seven weeks where she contracted coronavirus and needed oxygen support. She recovered and was discharged late at night around 9pm after her daughter had been told she would be staying in for another night.

The ambulance crew who took her home then learned there was no care package in place for her and refused to leave her at home so she was taken back to hospital.

Normal said: “With my mum’s disabilities and ill health, we had to have two carers looking after her in her home and she needed various medication.

“When the hospital discharged her I was told yes, everything is in place, but then when she got home it turned out there were no carers, no medication, nothing, so she had to go back in the ambulance and go straight back.  

“It was just an absolute nightmare and so distressing for my mum – she just wanted to be in her own home, it was horrendous.”

The next day Williamina was sent home when a district nurse had to contact a GP for a prescription and became concerned she was still too ill. The family begged them not to take her to Rotherham Hospital and instead she went to the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield.

Norma said her mother’s end-of-life care was excellent and her family were grateful to the staff involved in it, but she had serious concerns about many other aspects of her earlier treatment at Rotherham Hospital.  

She said: “I once went in to see mum and she was lying in her own mess unattended. I went to notify a member of staff but it was then another 40 minutes before anyone came to see to her and I don’t know how long she had been like that before I found her. She had various sores already and that will have just added to it – the whole thing was just awful.

“And we had sheltered mum from Covid so carefully so for her to then get it in hospital was hugely frustrating, especially as I would say about half the staff I saw in the hospital weren’t wearing masks.”  

She said a ring given to Williamina by her husband and a crucifix she kept as a catholic had gone missing despite numerous enquiries to the hospital.

Norm added: “My mum was completely disabled so couldn’t have removed the jewellery herself. Visiting was heavily restricted and she was in a her own room, It’s heartbreaking that she died without them. We are just hoping someone removed them for genuine reasons like a scan and they will be found at some point.”

A spokesperson for The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust said: “We are currently investigating and will meet with Ms Allan’s family to personally offer our condolences and report back on our findings.”

Professor Ted Baker, chief inspector of hospitals, said most patients reported a positive experience in hospital but he added: “Disappointingly, the results show that for some people the process of leaving hospital and accessing support after was not good enough, particularly for those in hospital with coronavirus. This mirrors the findings of a recent report by Healthwatch England and The British Red Cross.

“Previous CQC inpatient surveys have repeatedly shown discharge and access to onward services as an area where greater improvement is needed. The increased pressures that responding to the pandemic has placed on health and social care has brought the issue into sharp focus.

“More needs to be done to ensure people are fully supported when leaving hospital and when they return home with a clear join up between hospital, community and primary care.”

Healthwatch England national director Imelda Redmond said: “Everyone appreciates how pressured the health and social care sector has been during the pandemic but poorly-handled discharge can have a huge impact on patients and their loved ones, often leading to further health problems and complications which in turn end up placing additional strain on resources.  

“Previous evidence has also shown that basic things like communication failures and missed referrals to onward services have been persistent issues for a long time.”